There’s Something in Your Teeth!
We have some friends in town this weekend that have traveled from Tulsa to stay with us. One of those friends is my best friend from college. He was the best man at my wedding, former band mate and former adventure and misadventure partner, Mark Johnson. This article is dedicated to him.
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Back to the Jungle!
Unless something happens to prevent it, the week of June 11-18, Rex and I will be partnering with The Park Church of Christ of Tulsa, and going back to the Reserva Biologica Tawahka, the giant rainforest and biological reserve of southeastern Honduras.
This will be my eighth trip there and Rex’s second. It is home to a people that have become very near to my heart. A people that are the toughest I’ve ever encountered, yet soft-hearted and hospitable. A people that are open to the gospel and eager to learn about Jesus.
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Different Types of People
Something that is very fascinating to me, that I have spent a great deal of time considering, is the general moral differences between people.
What I mean is, people react differently to common temptations. It fascinates me that some people appear to be drawn with a powerful persuasion toward a variety of sinful activities, while others can reject the same with ease.
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Caught Between Love and Longing
In our Wednesday night series on the topic of holiness, this week we found ourselves discussing the topic of heaven and the Christian’s longing to be there. Specifically, we were discussing John’s prayer in Revelation 22:20, Come, Lord Jesus.
I was in the middle of explaining how going to heaven should be one of our greatest desires and how we should want Jesus to return more than anything else in this world when I was caught off guard by a comment.
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A Plea for Prayers and Patience
One of the most difficult things to do is the thing that is often first required – the choosing of a topic. This sounds simple enough, but there is nothing simple about it.
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Who Are Those Sacks For?
The sacks on the table at the front of the sanctuary are donations for Carpenter Place, formerly known as Maude Carpenter Children’s Home, a girls home in Wichita.
Unlike other girls homes, Carpenter Place provides a Christian home environment. Their aim is help each girl realize her true potential in Christ, with an ultimate goal of reuniting that girl with her family.
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Fight for Fellowship, part 2
Last week, I began to make the argument that we need fellowship. This week, I will begin to give some reasoning that extends beyond the scriptural commandment to have fellowship. First of all, fellowship has a lot to do with evangelism. Acts 2:44-47 says this:
44 And all those who had believed were together and had all things in common; 45 and they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. 46 Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, 47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.
What was going on in the beginning of Church history? Many things! Observe in verse 44 that the believers “were together.” What does that mean, exactly? We don’t know for sure, but based upon the scripture, it appears the early believers were together as much as possible. Verse 46 indicates that they were meeting together, “day by day,” and daily taking of the Lord’s Supper in different people’s homes, “breaking bread from house to house,” and, “they were taking their meals together.”
Since so many of the first Christians consisted of people that had traveled from many different regions to celebrate the Feast of Pentecost, there were many people who became displaced from their homelands and needed financial assistance. Because of this need a fund was put together for the common good of all in need. That’s what verse 44 means when it says, “all those who had believed were together and had all things in common,” and there was an ongoing assessment of what was needed and verse 45 says, “they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need.”
This wasn’t a model for a society, as I have heard some attempt to argue, but this was a group of people that just discovered Jesus – the best news they ever could have hoped to hear – and they didn’t want to leave the apostles. They wanted to hear as much as possible and to learn as much as possible before they had to go home. This required financial assistance to pull this off, and the church came together to pull off this great early fellowship.
If you’ve ever participated in a mission effort with the church, or spent a week at a church camp or attended a multiple-day Christian conference, you may have experienced the same swept up euphoria of Christian fellowship that happens when Christians are together over a period of time – learning together, sharing experiences together, remembering Christ together.
But also notice verse 47 – as this great Christian fellowship was occurring, the joy of that fellowship spilled over to other people who didn’t yet know Jesus, “and having favor with all the people.” And people didn’t know what it was the new Christians had, but they wanted it too. And when those people entered into the fellowship to see what it was all about, look at what it says the Lord did in verse 47, “And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.”
The Lord used Christian fellowship to produce new converts. And He will do the same today, but we first must fight to maintain fellowship. One light might be easily ignored, but one hundred lights shining together commands attention.
Much Love and Fellowship!
Wes LeFlore (918) 607-8489 or huskerwes1@gmail.com
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Fight for Fellowship, Part 1
We live in a society that is segmented. We are separated in many ways, by many means, most of which are very basic. The ways in which we are separated are historically unique as well. Here’s what I mean.
At some point in our American history, we decided against collectivist culture in favor of individualist culture. An example of what I mean is, whole families typically don’t live together in the United States, in fact, people count themselves fortunate if their family lives within a reasonable driving distance.
After all, we’re individuals, why should we all stick together?
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Wisdom from Unlikely Places
In an interview I was watching recently, a celebrity was asked, “Does all of your fame and fortune and success make you happy?” He said it didn’t, which didn’t surprise me, I’ve heard similarly from other rich and famous people that the things they thought were going to make them happy did not.
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The Authority of God
One thing that I think is easy to miss when reading about Jesus’ instituting the Lord’s Supper is his divine authority.
In the upstairs room at the home of a man that called Jesus his teacher, Jesus did something that only God has the authority to do. He created a new ceremony and then he gave a commandment to his followers to continually perform that ceremony.
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